By Joe Smith
Colts Yet another season of drum corps is done. The buses are being cleaned and put away, the instruments are going back to storage until auditions and the uniforms put back in storage until another young eager member of the drum corps comes to claim it as theirs for the season. And for the members and staff, it's time for them to attempt to make that transition back to the so-called normal life. The transition for me has not been normal. The bus ride home was numb -- I didn't realize what it was leading to. Then I stepped off the bus for the last time this year and didn't really think about it and didn't realize the 2003 Colts were gone. My family dispersed -- some I'll never see again, others I'll see at least once more, and I'm hoping for another season with almost everyone of them (if they choose
to march again). The shows will never be performed again live on the field, and I find that to truly be a shame. This year there were some phenomenal shows that'd I'd love to watch just one more time in person, but instead I'll be stuck watching the DVDs just like everyone else. I went from the 2002 season where I wasn't nurtured enough with drum corps to being spoiled during the 2003 season and seeing a show almost every night. Something I loved more than anything was to see the changes that a corps makes from day to day -- their consistencies and inconsistencies. Now it's back to watching videos and doing marching band. Many deum corps people dread marching band because it generally won't be at the same level that you just came from, that and the fact that you can't get away with not wearing a shirt. I came back to what I used to believe was a very fine marching band and I look at it now and realize how many of those kids don't want to be there. The only person I had to look to with any idea of what I had been through was my visual caption head Jimmy McNab. He knows how much I'd love to convert the band into a drum corps, but I know that even if I could change the band to be like drum corps, it just wouldn't be the same -- after all, nothing will be exactly like the 2003 Colts. What I felt on the field this summer was amazing, and it's something I've never felt before. I hope to feel it again, although it won't be with the same group of talented individuals that I worked with this summer. Now you can all believe I'm just working my corps up, but I'm not -- I'm being as honest as I can be. The people I marched with this summer were amazing and were also some of the craziest people I've ever met in my life. Maybe this has just become a random sentimental "Let's make Joe cry" rant about my summer -- and if it is I'm sorry to those of you who haven't felt this. But if you still have the chance take the opportunity and run with it. You'll never do anything else like this in your life, so do it now while you still can. The people you will meet, the staff you will work with and the volunteers are just amazing. Well before you the readers start to get annoyed and bored with random blather, I had better leave you for this week (oh yes this will become weekly). So enjoy your week -- and to the members of the 2003 Colts, the staff and the volunteers, I want to say I love you guys and it was an amazing summer! Oh and one last thing -- I was asked by some members of the corps to let everyone know something, and that thing is, "Rain makes me FURIOSO!" So I hope those members are happy now. A heartfelt thank you goes out to the readers for going through what I just wrote -- it means a lot to me that you people read this stuff.
Colts Yet another season of drum corps is done. The buses are being cleaned and put away, the instruments are going back to storage until auditions and the uniforms put back in storage until another young eager member of the drum corps comes to claim it as theirs for the season. And for the members and staff, it's time for them to attempt to make that transition back to the so-called normal life. The transition for me has not been normal. The bus ride home was numb -- I didn't realize what it was leading to. Then I stepped off the bus for the last time this year and didn't really think about it and didn't realize the 2003 Colts were gone. My family dispersed -- some I'll never see again, others I'll see at least once more, and I'm hoping for another season with almost everyone of them (if they choose
to march again). The shows will never be performed again live on the field, and I find that to truly be a shame. This year there were some phenomenal shows that'd I'd love to watch just one more time in person, but instead I'll be stuck watching the DVDs just like everyone else. I went from the 2002 season where I wasn't nurtured enough with drum corps to being spoiled during the 2003 season and seeing a show almost every night. Something I loved more than anything was to see the changes that a corps makes from day to day -- their consistencies and inconsistencies. Now it's back to watching videos and doing marching band. Many deum corps people dread marching band because it generally won't be at the same level that you just came from, that and the fact that you can't get away with not wearing a shirt. I came back to what I used to believe was a very fine marching band and I look at it now and realize how many of those kids don't want to be there. The only person I had to look to with any idea of what I had been through was my visual caption head Jimmy McNab. He knows how much I'd love to convert the band into a drum corps, but I know that even if I could change the band to be like drum corps, it just wouldn't be the same -- after all, nothing will be exactly like the 2003 Colts. What I felt on the field this summer was amazing, and it's something I've never felt before. I hope to feel it again, although it won't be with the same group of talented individuals that I worked with this summer. Now you can all believe I'm just working my corps up, but I'm not -- I'm being as honest as I can be. The people I marched with this summer were amazing and were also some of the craziest people I've ever met in my life. Maybe this has just become a random sentimental "Let's make Joe cry" rant about my summer -- and if it is I'm sorry to those of you who haven't felt this. But if you still have the chance take the opportunity and run with it. You'll never do anything else like this in your life, so do it now while you still can. The people you will meet, the staff you will work with and the volunteers are just amazing. Well before you the readers start to get annoyed and bored with random blather, I had better leave you for this week (oh yes this will become weekly). So enjoy your week -- and to the members of the 2003 Colts, the staff and the volunteers, I want to say I love you guys and it was an amazing summer! Oh and one last thing -- I was asked by some members of the corps to let everyone know something, and that thing is, "Rain makes me FURIOSO!" So I hope those members are happy now. A heartfelt thank you goes out to the readers for going through what I just wrote -- it means a lot to me that you people read this stuff.